Generous for the Kingdom

I want to talk about generosity for the Kingdom of God. And I want you to meditate on that virtue of generosity that the word of God highly praises. But I want to base myself first on a text of scripture and a key moment in the life of the church of Jesus Christ at a historical level, which is what is known as the great commission. It is found in Matthew, chapter 28. And the Lord was speaking to me yesterday while I was asking him for the theme and the specific orientation of the message, the connection between fulfilling and carrying out the great commission that Christ left to the church and the generosity of God's people.

And I want to connect those two things for you this afternoon. The Bible tells us in Matthew 28:16 that:

“…the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had commanded them… – there are these men, we don't know if there were others with them, but these 11 disciples were there. Why 11? Because number 12, Judas, had betrayed Jesus and had committed suicide, by hanging, but there were 11 who had been faithful to the Lord and they were going to lead the efforts of the church, to start. The Lord was to ascend into heaven, He was to send the Holy Spirit, and these teenagers were now to become adults, spearheading the efforts of the church. And the Lord leaves you one last charge, a key charge that we are still fulfilling in the 21st century.

In verse 17 it says; “…when the disciples saw Jesus, they worshiped him…” Wow! Why would they have adored it when they saw it? Perhaps they saw it… because they remember that this was not the same Jesus who had walked with them for 3 years, this is a Jesus who now has a different authority. He just came back to life. He is a Jesus who crosses walls, miraculously appears in the middle of a meeting, has authority... the Bible even says that he possibly went to hell itself to declare the victory of the cross. And he has defeated death and in all his glory, before ascending, they see him and are moved to adore him. And the Lord receives his adoration.

And I think that it is one of the most important things that we have to understand that Jesus Christ is God and that he deserves our worship and everything… I imagine that they prostrated themselves before him and paid all their praise and all their adoration to him. that almighty Christ. And what it says here is interesting, "... but that some doubted..." because always in all the companies of the Kingdom of God there have been some who are difficult to convince. That is why I believe there were more than 11, although perhaps among themselves there were some who doubted, but I believe there were other people and among those people there were some who were still not convinced, even having seen him resurrect they were not convinced.

And that reminds me that many times in the church, when we speak of a generous life towards God, dedication, service, of all the things that a vital Christian life requires, there are many who resist, there are many who seem to have to be dragged to the total surrender of their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, and even of their goods, and they are always pondering and looking for the cat's 3 legs. No, that the tithe will be for now or it was only for the times of the Old Testament or that this, that that. There has always been that controversy. And some are generous and give themselves totally to the Lord, some doubted. But that is not what I am interested in emphasizing, but what follows, he says:

"...Jesus approached and spoke to them saying, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations'..."

Therein lies the key to this passage, “go and make disciples of all nations.” What does it mean to make disciples of all nations? We are talking about that this included the continent of Africa, which at that time I don't know at what point in its culture it was, the Mayans and the Aztecs in Central America and South America, its own culture, India with its own historical processes, the nations of Europe , the Roman empire and the Lord is saying, those 11 ordinary men to go... and to those who would follow them until our own time, to go to all those regions of the world and approach those nations, those societies , to those cultures and convert them into disciples of Jesus Christ.

And he says, “baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always until the end of the world. Amen…"

That was the commission of Jesus Christ for the church. Make disciples of all nations. Think that it is a collective mandate, it is not only to evangelize individual men and women, but to evangelize nations, societies, systems, cultures and bring them into alignment with the values of the Kingdom of God.

And one wonders how they were going to fulfill that great commission, that commission to subject the nations of the earth to the principles of the Kingdom of God. I don't think it takes a sociological genius to understand that the nations have not yet been subdued, have not yet been made disciples of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Because discipling and making disciples of the nations, the peoples, is a very, very big order, it meant converting each nation into followers of Jesus Christ. The nations, the United States, Russia, subject to the will of Jesus Christ, directing their governments in accordance with the principles of the Kingdom of God, establishing laws and moral, social and judicial rules that reflect the values of holiness, love and justice according to it is defined by the word of God and the spirit of Jesus Christ. That is the call to the church, brothers.

How were the few followers Jesus left behind on earth when he ascended to heaven to achieve that? First, they were going to do it, as he himself suggests here, through the power of the Holy Spirit, which he would bring down upon them beginning on the day of Pentecost. The Lord told them, "Do not leave Jerusalem without first being endowed with power from on high because you are going to need that power to fulfill this tremendous charge that I have given you."

So, number 1, was being filled with the spirit of Jesus Christ. Number 2, dedicating their lives, their possessions and their talents totally to the advancement of the Kingdom of God. He was going to do it through disciples who would give birth to other disciples because you can't make a disciple unless you don't live as a disciple, because making disciples means that you impart your spirituality, your DNA, your spiritual genetics. , you impart it to another. So, the fulfillment of this great commission required that the church, those who entered the Kingdom of God, themselves become people who were disciples, who followed Jesus Christ, who gave their lives to the Lord. As Peter said, “Lord, we have left everything for you.” And the Lord said to him, “You know what? There is no one who has not left everything for me and who one day will not receive a thousand times more in the kingdom of heaven." But here on earth one has to live as a disciple, as a pilgrim and a foreigner until one reaches heaven and receives his reward.

The conquest of nations for Christ, their conversion into disciples of Jesus requires, brothers, among other things, also a well-financed and very well-structured organization. The church of Jesus Christ is a corporation in a sense, the church of Jesus Christ is a company, it is an army, it is a government that has a goal, a vision, values, a product, a system and that is supposed to be founded on a solid platform, both structural, that is why I emphasize organization, order, excellence, attention to detail, meticulousness, small things, discipline, perseverance, leadership, because the church of Jesus Christ is an army, it is an organization, it is a corporation, it has a purpose, God has called it to be a conqueror of nations.

And among the things that an army requires, and a corporation requires, is good financing. Without good finances, no company, no army becomes powerful or prosperous. The advancement of the Kingdom of God requires a well-financed organization and this means, it requires a financially generous people towards God. We have to connect those two things. How is the church going to conquer the world, how is the church going to do what God wants to do in the 21st century? I tell you, brothers, I feel in my spirit in a very strong way that we are on the verge of a great change in the way in which the church of Jesus Christ is going to walk on the earth, and before Christ comes, I believe that the church is going to be called to exercise great authority over the nations.

I am not yet packing my suitcase to go to heaven or the rapture of the church, I believe that we still have work to do before Christ comes. There is still a lot to do here and I believe there will be times when the church of Jesus Christ will exercise great dominion and great authority over the nations, but for that a solid, structural, organizational and financial foundation is required. I believe that the church has not yet reached the critical point that...

Brothers, it is a special time, a kairos time and a people is required that understands the call that God has for us. And I am going, at the risk of lengthening the sermon a bit, to go back a moment because God also spoke to me about that this morning while I was meditating, that when the Lord stood before those disciples I had never connected the great commission that God gives the church at that moment another event equally or even greater in importance, which is when God creates Adam and Eve and tells them, the following, this is in Genesis, chapter 1. Because I clearly saw this that what what is happening in Matthew 28 is… because the church now in Christ is a new creation, so the Bible says, when Christ dies on the cross, he declares the principalities and powers defeated. Those who come after the cross is a new creation, it is a redeemed people now in Christ Jesus, so it is like God is telling this new creation to subdue the world, rule over the world, format, align the world with my values. You are going to be a conquering force, a force that is going to align the world with my kingdom.

And in Genesis 1:27,28 the Lord blesses the man he has created and says: “…and God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him – look at what it says there too – male and female – there was not male and Aaron, but male and female who created it, that is free – … male and female he created them and God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it – that means, subdue the earth, cultivate it , take that wild, wild agriculture and create furrows and places to sow, channel rivers and lakes and create culture and order humanity and create societies – lord over the fish of the sea, the birds of the skies and all the beasts that rise They move on the earth…”

It was a great commission that God gave to man in the Garden of Eden, to take control of the earth and submit it to God's order. And now the Lord Jesus Christ, having changed the course of history, having started a new time in the history of humanity, to these men who have just received him as Lord and savior and adore him and who are now the new Adam, a new creation. Jesus Christ is the new Adam who now gives birth to a new humanity and to that new embryonic humanity that is there present before him and those 11 men, he tells them, “subdue the nations to the values of my kingdom,” very similar to which tells Adam and Eve, "hold the earth."

Brothers, that light bulb came on for me that what we are doing is continuing with the mandate, with the entrustment that God gives to a new humanity. We have the call to submit the nations to the values of the Kingdom of God. How are we going to do it? Proclaiming the Gospel, living lives of excellence, convincing the world of the virtue of the Gospel, working hard for the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit, living the word of God, laying down our lives, giving everything to the Lord, living sacrificially, acknowledging that this world is not our home, that everything we have and everything we are belongs to the Lord and is available whenever he wants it.

And that new generation, that new humanity is the one that is going to conquer the world for Christ and prepare it for what he has for this humanity. That is what we have to do and we have to see each other... I believe that Christians are not generous towards the Kingdom of God because they do not understand the greatness and the magnificent of what they are experiencing. Most of us believe that being evangelical is punching out a card, having an evangelical card and coming to church, singing a couple of lukewarm choruses and going home until next Sunday and that is the Gospel. Devil's lie

The Gospel is something sublime, it is a company, it is an adventure, it is an epic, it is something heroic, glorious, where we live an adventure with God and everything we have, everything we are we have put... That is why I believe that it is so important that they adored Jesus, we throw our crowns at our feet, we say to him, “Lord, all that I have, all that I am, all that I am worth, all that I can do, for your glory and your honor only.” May what I live here on earth be to advance your kingdom and fulfill your commandments. That is what every Christian, that is what a disciple must do, live only for Christ.

And the Lord says that no one, as I said before, no one who has given his life for the Lord here on earth will stop receiving goods and blessings and riches in the age to come. Your reward is there in heaven, while you live here live for him, for him, for his glory, for his honor, for the advancement of his kingdom, everything ready, thrown at the feet of the Lord, every crown, every virtue, everything resource, every gift, every talent that you have, every belonging, everything, Lord, take it, what do you want? What do you need? All for you, all for your glory. There is no better way to live than that.

The advancement of the Kingdom of God requires an organization that is aware of its calling to be a force that rules, that conquers, that aligns the world. Without a good financial foundation the church cannot, will not be able to fulfill the great commission because all the prosperous institutions in the world have behind them generous people who finance them. It is always so.

I used the example of Harvard University, how many have heard of Harvard? The most powerful, most elite, most illustrious university in the world. Do you know how much is the financial fund that Harvard has, the financial reserve that Harvard has? It's just your reserve, your savings account, do you know how much money they have? That they never use it, they don't touch that money, but that money lives on interest for their jobs and all their things. Harvard's financial fund is 36 billion dollars. That is the reserve of Harvard University, larger than the national budget of many nations around the world. And do you know how they have accumulated that money? All that money has been given by generous people who identify with the values and educational purpose of that great institution, Harvard graduates, people who admire Harvard, or people who want glory by putting their name on a building, in a program. .

This week, for example, on Saturday I read on the internet that billionaire John Paulson donated $400 million to Harvard this week to improve its engineering department. And he did it in gratitude to the university that had given him its financial knowledge to make him a fortune of about 19 billion dollars. So for him to give 400 million is like you and me drawing a ballot for 20 dollars. And in fact his name is going to be on a building, or rather, I think the entire engineering program at Harvard is going to have John Paulson's name on it. He bought it with 400 million dollars.

Because it is that men... there are two things that motivate men to give to large institutions. 1) it is gratitude and a desire to advance the interests of that institution and 2) it is identifying oneself with something great, powerful, that will transcend them when they die.

And I tell you, brothers, we do the same. We can give, because we believe in the values of the Kingdom of God or also… do you know why? Give also because one day you are going to receive glory and honor and because there is nothing more glorious than giving to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

By the way, John Paulson's donation of 400 million dollars is part of a financial campaign, of many financial campaigns that Harvard has undertaken, and that financial campaign is to raise 6.5 billion dollars, the campaign has been going on for about 2 and a half years and They've already raised $5 billion. And I can tell you that since I knew Harvard, when I started studying at the university in 1979, Harvard has never stopped sending me emails at home, continually asking for money. Unfortunately, they were wrong… and let me tell you something, I was telling the brothers this morning, also Princeton is the same, Andover is the same, they send me all the time…

Look, I am very grateful that those universities allowed me to study for free, always with scholarships, I am a person from a family that is as low-income as you can imagine, but the Lord gave me the benefit and the privilege of studying in those great institutions, because generous people gave money so students like me could benefit. And you know what? Although I confess that I have never sent money to those institutions, I have thought that I am blessing my money by giving it to the Kingdom of God and my life giving it to advancement and the Kingdom of God. And that's my way of serving too.

I believe that these institutions will be blessed because they have helped God's servants prepare to advance the Kingdom of God. And I am blessing the values of these institutions, blessing society and culture, serving the Kingdom of the Lord, for this reason I feel very aligned with that spirit of generosity. Although I decide better, I give my money to the Kingdom of God. My life, my talents, my gifts, are to advance and to bless society and bless culture, because when you do things in society and bless neighborhoods, then I am also being blessed and I am blessing, a chain of continuous blessing.

But that legendary generosity of institutions like Harvard is what has made possible their great excellence, their intellectual greatness, as powerful institutions. And likewise, brothers, in the same way, the only thing that can ensure the advancement and effectiveness of the church of Jesus Christ in its own enterprise of conquering the world here on earth, is the generosity of God's people, which includes the generosity financial.

And before finishing I want to mark you with a couple of passages that speak to us about generosity, how important it is to be generous with the Kingdom of God and to have a generous heart towards the world. Look up Isaiah chapter 32, there is a beautiful passage about the person with a generous heart, verse 8, it says:

"... but the generous will think generosity and by generosity will be exalted..."

Wow! I'd like to put that on a church wall where everybody walks in. The generous will think generosity. He knows that a person with a generous heart is always thinking about how he can be a blessing to others, he is always planning generosity. This morning when I came to church, my wife and I were talking on the phone and we were talking about the needs that exist in our extended families and how we have to reach out and help our relatives in different ways. And I told him, "Look, Meche, forget it, if God wants us... we're going to do it, we're going to bless," and we've always done it because I believe that one always has to be scheming how to be generous with our relatives, with people in need, with the church of Christ, with the Kingdom of God.

The Christian must be a factory of generosity, that wherever we go, the blessing of the kingdom goes with us. And when you live like this, misery flees from you, blessing pursues you, provision seeks you, brothers. The best way to remove the head of the giant of misery is by being generous and giving to the Lord. To have a mind that is always thinking generosity and that for those generosities is worthy of admiration and exaltation and that God rejoices in saying, "That is my son, that is my daughter." The generous think generosity.

Another passage is Proverbs chapter 11, verse 24 and 25. It says:

"...There are those who distribute and more is added to them..."

That is what I say, the interesting thing is that when you give more is added to you, the Bible says that more will be given to those who have and to those who do not have, even what they do not have will be taken away, meaning that when you you put to use the talents that God has given you, when you put to use what God gives you and you put it to manage and move like a capitalist, then what you have yields to you. That's what's wonderful. It's like beating an egg, when you beat an egg it starts closed, you beat it and the air gets in and it starts to foam and get bigger. Beat your money and you will see how God will bless you. Don't leave it there flattened on the plate, no, move it. That's so important.

"...There are those who distribute and add more and there are those who retain more than what is fair but come to poverty..."

Make sure that what you withhold is right in the eyes of God. Do not withhold what is not yours, do not withhold, for example, what belongs to God because if you withhold it you will go to poverty. And finally he says:

“…The generous soul – say generous – will prosper.”

That is the key. The generous soul. It has to come from the heart, it has to come from the seat of the will.

"The generous soul will prosper and whoever satisfies him will also be satisfied..."

Generosity towards God. Exodus chapter 35, Moses called the people to give an offering for the construction of the tabernacle because all the great projects of the people of God throughout history have always required convocations so that the people generously give to the Lord to carry out the purposes of the Kingdom. A tabernacle was needed for the people to worship in the wilderness. Moses summoned the people to bring an offering and says in chapter 35, verse 5:

“…and Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel saying, “This is what the Lord has commanded, take an offering for the Lord from among you, every generous heart shall bring it to the Lord…”

And another very interesting passage is in First Timothy, chapter 6, and with that I am closing because there are many very interesting things that we could take from this teaching. Verse 17 to 19:

“…To the rich of this century – this is Paul speaking to Timothy, the pastor, to preach to the congregation that he is pastoring, and among them are people who perhaps had money or that is the message of the church in general to the people – to the rich of this century command them not to be haughty, nor to put their hope in riches, which are uncertain, but in the living God who gives us all things in abundance so that we can enjoy them. – and here is the key – That they do good, that they be rich in good works, willing, generous, treasuring up for themselves a good foundation for the future, that they take hold of eternal life…”

How many of us have laid hold of eternal life? That means that they hold on, it's like a claw, that they hold onto it and live within eternal life. And that is what God commands us. We live very well here in the United States, even though we consider ourselves working-class people, but when I go there to the Star Market and see those cars of our Central American and Dominican brothers, they have to look up like that to be able to drive the car. I don't know where they can find enough to eat in a week, but they are getting even for all the hunger they suffered in their countries now here, forget it. Those fridges are full of food.

We have a lot of abundance and the Lord tells us, "Look, do not fall in love with it or become attached to it, rather be generous, be generous, store up for the earth to come, the age to come, for the heavenly homeland." Be generous with the Kingdom of God. That is God's call for our lives.

That is why I say that this offering should exemplify everything that God wants us to be as a church. Without generosity there is no great commission. Without a people with a generous heart, a church like ours cannot do the things it does.

I end with a personal illustration. Yesterday before the wedding we celebrated of a couple from the church, the wife is of Haitian descent and we invited two pastors from the congregation she attended to officiate the ceremony with me and we were sitting right there, where Ángel and his family are , before the ceremony started, we were talking and they were telling me about how dazzled they were admiring this space and the things that we had accomplished in the Lord as a congregation and the buildings that we have and all these things. And they would tell me about their own struggles and hardships trying to build a building that they couldn't in the end. They bought a land, they bought a building and in the end after they bought it they couldn't build it because the city didn't give them permission and the neighborhood opposed them and they didn't go anywhere.

And I thought to myself, wow, the Lord has been so merciful to us. During 20 years of construction, 3 buildings, and God has delivered us from the lion's mouth like 100 times, brothers, sincerely. So many obstacles that we have had to overcome to get to where we have arrived and I feel so grateful to the Lord.

But what is interesting is this, that every time pastors come, ministers from different parts come to León de Judá, they always express their admiration for our physical plant and above all for this sanctuary, because they see its beauty and its quality and everything else. Whenever they tell me that I do 2 things, number 1, I give glory to God first and I express my gratitude to the Lord for what he has done to bless us in the way he has blessed us.

And the second thing I always do is I give credit to my congregation as well and I say, you know what, brother? This is the sacrificial fruit of many men and women in our congregation who have given sacrificially to make this possible. Because the Lord did not rain money from the sky or a multimillionaire come and tell me, "Here you have, pastor, 10 million dollars to do whatever you want." No. That has been the sweat of my brothers, your faith, your vision, your obedience to the Lord, your saying, we are present, when a call has been made to undertake one of these activities. Those who have worked sacrificially and who can look around a carpet that they laid, some panels that they helped to cut and dye, some panels around, paint, walls, lights, electricity, so many things that have made the beauty of this place possible.

Here there is blood, literally, in the spaces of this place, there are tears, there is sweat, there are hammer blows to the fingers, there are scares that have passed, there are sleepless nights, and there are brothers who gave, who never ceases to admire me , his generosity towards the Kingdom of God. That is the church, fulfilling the great commission. And every time a soul converts to the Lord and comes to the feet of Christ, every time a couple – like the one I met at the end of the first service at the foot of the elevator, who came to me, such beautiful Central American brothers, to tell me how they have been here in the church for 6 months, they want to be baptized, how God is blessing their marriage, how they want to bring their children to know the Lord and thank God for this refuge that they found here.

I say, thank you, Lord, because that is the great commission. And that is possible because brothers give to the Lord, they are generous. And every time a youngster or one of our employees goes to a school in Boston to do mentoring or so many things that happen here, an immigrant is helped to order their papers or whatever, behind all that there are brothers who every Sunday they come and give their tithe, give their offerings. When we want to do something like what we did down there, to be able to insulate the floor so that you can be comfortable here, there are brothers.

For example, the cupcake ministry, you know that every Sunday they give me a report, as soon as I get home, many times there is a report that comes to me by text. Roberto, today we sold 892 dollars. Today we sold 1000 plus dollars. And when they return home they have to send their clothes to the dry cleaner because they are saturated with the blessing, but they are generous with God.

I tell those little brothers, that oil smells like gardenia perfume to me. Look, neither Yves Saint Laurent nor Pierre Cardin smell as good as that grease on those cupcakes. And these people lose out on services, they lose out on discipleship, but they are investing in the great commission, they are making it possible, and more than half the cost of that so that now you can be calm and comfortable, those little brothers have given it.

Brethren, that is living the great commission. My desire is for this church to be a platoon of God's army, a battalion full of power, anointing, provision, finances, organization, discipline, vision, order, subject to the values of the Kingdom of God, people living as soldiers of the Kingdom of God, moving on. And the Kingdom of God advancing like a conquering machine that is overwhelming everything and reducing all thought to the dominion of Christ Jesus.

I want to impregnate each one of you with that vision of the Kingdom of God for your lives. Say to yourself, I am a soldier of the kingdom, I am a disciple of the kingdom, I am a central element, a pillar of the Kingdom of God. My life is part of that advancing kingdom. And right now prostrate your spirit before God, adore him and tell him, Lord, all that I have, all that I am, I give it to you. Consecrate yourself to the Lord.

Stand up. We're going to stand up and right now I'm smelling the cupcakes, how is the brain, now I recognized it. Stand up and lower your head, bow it and as I bow before the Lord right now and I surrender my crown before God. Everything I have, everything I am, and I renew my pact with Christ to live only for him, he has first given me every talent, all knowledge has come because he has made it possible, every experience that has enriched me culturally in some way, he has made it possible and everything is his, everything is for him, everything is for him, everything is for his glory and my pleasure will be to undo myself so that his kingdom advances.

And I want you to also adopt that vision wherever you go, wherever you are, say, Lord, my pleasure, my privilege will be to serve only you, that everything I have, everything I am.